1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to draw commands for graphics, and more specifically to draw commands with an implicit begin and an implicit end.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional graphics processing the OpenGL applications programming interface (API) includes an explicit API-visible begin and end for draw commands. Primitive draw commands are placed between a pair of begin and end draw commands to cause a graphics processor to render primitives. When a small number of primitive draw commands are placed between a pair of begin and end draw commands, the overhead of reading and the clock cycles spent processing the begin and end draw commands may reduce the primitive processing throughput. For example, when only two primitive draw commands are placed between a pair of begin and end draw commands, four clock cycles are needed to transmit and process the command sequence (one for begin, one for end, and two for the primitive draw commands). Four clock cycles are needed to transmit and process the two primitive draw commands, so there are two clock cycles of overhead and two clock cycles of draw command processing.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a technique for reducing the overhead for transmitting the begin and end draw commands that are needed in primitive draw command sequences.